


No Way Out

by colorBlip



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Corruption, Crying, Emotions, F/M, Homeworld - Freeform, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Rejection, Sad, Sad Ending, Short One Shot, Spinel - Freeform, Steven Universe - Freeform, Steven Universe Future, Steven and Connie angst, but he gets rejected :(, connie maheswaran - Freeform, connverse - Freeform, date, i guess, lol, no happy ending, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:06:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22829167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colorBlip/pseuds/colorBlip
Summary: Steven decides to propose to Connie, and her answer is the cause of his corruption.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

This wasn’t the first time his heart raced today.

Steven Universe liked to imagine that he was an old school romantic, which was why he decided to go with an old-fashioned candlelight dinner, for he and Connie’s date.

Things couldn’t be better between the two of them. Connie was a beautiful, caring, and smart girl. Steven only had eyes for Connie, and Connie exclusively. That’s why a tiny voice nagged him in the back of his mind; 

_ What if she just doesn’t love you as much? _

_ No way. Of course she does. Connie loves me. _

He didn’t think it was possible to argue with himself, but apparently it was. The shrill voice wasn’t loud enough to disturb him, though. It wasn’t loud enough to change his thoughts.

It wasn’t loud enough to make him rethink his purchase on an expensive piece of jewelry, specifically made for couples who loved each other with their entire beings.

The voice in the back of his mind wasn’t loud enough to make him feel any guilt out of the hard truth that he relied on his girlfriend as emotional support.

Sure, Steven understood the concept of love.

Entirely. 

You meet that person, and it’s like love at first sight. You love them, and they love you. You’ll protect them, you’ll fight for them, and you'll absolutely do anything for them.

Just like he and Connie always did for each other. 

He was sure Connie loves him. He was sure of it.

Despite the cool breeze, Steven found himself breaking out in a cold sweat. He yanked at the collar of his white button-up dress shirt, hoping for some air to go through as he watched intently while Connie told him something that he felt bad for not paying attention to.

The thud in his chest was the only thing he could focus on. Occasionally glancing over his shoulder to the black velvet box that he held behind his back, upright in his palm, he found it hard to scope out the sound of the waves over his beating heart.

He knew what love was.

He knew what love meant.

He knew what it was about.

And this would seal the deal. 

Steven rose from his seat, smiling while he offered his hand out for Connie to hold. Once he held it in his hand, he made sure to slip the small box, that held his entire future, in his pocket.

They slowly walked hand in hand, eventually drifting closer towards the shore. Now there was no one that could bother them.

Nothing can go wrong.

The multi-colored, pastel sky which got its breathtaking hues from the setting sun  _ perfectly _ set the mood. Now was the perfect time. 

Tilting his chin up to the sky, he gently spoke.

“ _ When we first met, I didn’t think things would end up how they are now. But I’m glad they did.” _

Connie smiles, moving directly in front of him as she places her free hand to rest on his chest. “Me too. I’m glad I get to be here with you, always.”

Then his gaze met hers, smiling warmly. 

“ _ Everything that I’ve been through so far has been easy, because you were always by my side.” _

“Of course. You know I’ll always be here, Steven. Wherever you are, that’s where I am, too.”

And that’s what confirmed things for him. He was apprehensive at first, but her words reminded him of why he was even doing this in the first place. Why was it even a small thought in his mind to not do this? He just wanted to do it already, not wanting another second to go by, where she wasn’t his.

Stepping back a bit, Steven lowers down on to one knee. 

The corners of Connie’s smile slowly dropped, her eyes growing wider with every move Steven made.

He pulled the box out of his pocket, flicking the top open as it revealed a shiny ring to her face. 

“ _ Connie… I don’t ever want to not be next to you. This way, even when we’re apart... we can be together. We can always be with each other. I love you, so much. Will you marry me?”  _ He spoke from his desperate heart, giving a hopeful smile despite the inability to think straight, hear himself think, or see clearly.

The girl looked down at him dubiously, which Steven couldn’t distinguish from surprise or excitement. He didn’t want to accept the fact that it was neither of those.

His knees ached as he silently struggled to balance all of his weight all on one knee, but he did his best to stay like this until she said yes. His arm muscles got tired from holding up the small box which held the ring up, trying to keep it still enough to not give away that he was not really in shape to be doing these sort of poses. 

Nonetheless, he swallowed his problems down, getting a bit concerned as now more than 30 seconds went by without a peep from Connie’s mouth.

Connie blinked, cautiously stepping back. 

“ _ Steven…” _

He flinched at his name being called, but he kept his smile through and through. He just needed her to say it. He just needed to hear it from her. 

He just needed her to say yes.

“I can’t-... I can’t marry you. W-we’re kids!”

Connie was now visibly struggling to keep a normal breathing pattern. “ _ I’m sorry,” _

And with that, she was running away.

Steven felt himself go numb.

He thought he knew what love was.

He swore he knew what love meant.

He thought he knew what it was about.

What is the meaning of love?

The only person who hadn’t left him. The only person he managed to keep within his grasp before slipping away, was flowing further and further beyond his reach with every shaken breath he took.

_ Did he have it wrong? This… this whole time?  _

His mouth hung open while he felt warm tears roll down both sides of his face. To say breathing became a task would be an understatement. He felt himself falling forward, placing his arms out on the sand to catch himself from face-planting the sand.

The tears came running down his face and onto the sand below, and he hiccuped silently as he gasped for air. Clutching his chest, he looked up at the sky, seeing nothing but a bunch of stars becoming more visible in the night sky, as the sun set. 

The world spun around him, making him lose grip of what little rope he was hanging onto. He was losing his feeling, his touch, and his senses. 

‘ _ What am I going to do?’ _

He didn’t see himself living another day after this. It was hard to see anything past the constant flow of tears coming from his eyes, but from what he could see there was just an endless void, in which he spiraled deeper by the second.

What is the meaning of love?

If he didn’t know, then did anyone?

Could anyone tell him?

What did he do wrong?

Didn’t Connie love him? If she loved him, wouldn’t she have said yes? 

Where did he go wrong?

Images of her flashed in his mind, desperately searching for a way out.

A way out of his own mind was what he was looking for, but he soon found out that such a thing doesn’t exist. 

There is no way out.

If there isn’t a way out, then how was he going to escape? 

_ This isn’t how he imagined the night to go. _

The sound of crying seagulls brought him back to reality for a short time, in which he got a blurry vision of the small, black ring box lying helplessly on the sand next to him. 

Steven thought he knew what love was. He searched behind every rock and tree for where he messed up. He looked everywhere for a reason. For an exit. For a key to the lock. For the truth.

But there was  _ no way out. _


	2. Corruption Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is very wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this a long time ago when corrupted steven was just a theory. Thought It’d be funny to upload

Steven didn’t know if it had been a few hours or a few minutes that he had been numbly laying here. The darkening sky went unnoticed by the boy, changing ever so slightly as the stars gradually became more visible.

His bleary eyes fluttered open, and suddenly everything that he hoped was nightmares, soon proved itself to be reality.

His body ached on the now uncomfortable sand that he seemed to be laying in for the past few hours. 

He couldn’t find the strength within himself to keep going, let alone,  _ get up. _

Everything that he had been… just led up to  _ this _ ?

Strangely, he all of a sudden felt guilt rush through his veins. The  _ last  _ emotion he thought he’d ever feel. In fact, guilt was what he was quietly hoping Connie would feel, but there was no real way of knowing that.

_ Had he maybe… overreacted over this? _

_ Maybe he was being very childish with this. Thinking back to his tantrum yesterday, he couldn’t help but feel himself shudder in embarrassment, despite the fact that no one else was there to witness it. _

For the most part, he felt a  _ lot  _ calmer now. But everytime he drew in a shaky breath, he felt his still balled-up fist in his pocket pulsing with pain.

He rolled on to his back, hissing and tilting his chin up when he felt another intense pulse of pain shoot through his fist.

He didn’t get it. From what he collected, his punch wasn’t even  _ that  _ hard. Maybe there was a small indent in the ground beside him where he had punched, but he chose to ignore that for a number of reasons. 

Thinking about it more made him recall being pink when it all happened. A regular thing these days when it came to his daily life. It kind of just…  _ happened  _ whenever he was  _ really, really  _ upset.

Absentmindedly, he reached his free hand down to clutch tightly at his wrist, to try and relieve some of the pressure. When it didn’t do much, he felt a flicker of irritation. He groaned when he felt the impacted knuckles grow swollen, tightening his fist in an attempt for  _ anything  _ to give him relief.

_ Maybe he shouldn’t have done that… but it’s not like he had a choice. He completely lost control back there.  _

Steven’s head swam with pleas to no one in specific with requests of temporary comfort until he could find a bandage to wrap it in. “ _ Gosh… why does it hurt so bad?” _

His fingertips on his unharmed hand began to turn blue due to the frigid temperatures when the sun went down. 

Retracting his throbbing hand from his pocket, he held it up in front of his face, squinting his eyes to try and examine it with the small amount of moonlight that there was. 

He had to do a double take when he thought he was seeing that half of all of his fingers had turned a deep shade of magenta. There were small spikes poking out of his knuckles, which continued to ache as more spikes broke through the back of his hand. 

Fear clouded Steven’s expression. With his unaffected hand, he desperately rubbed his eyes, maneuvering himself to a sitting position to allow more light to come through to him.

Sure as it was, his thought-to-be hallucinations were real. His heart raced, growing fearful of what was happening to his hand. How did a punch cause all of  _ this?!  _ An unsettling chill rolled down his back as the pain worsened when another bigger spike broke through his knuckle. 

Steven let out a terrified yell.

After collecting himself, he drew in a long, shaky breath and brought himself to sit on his knees. He tried his best to ignore the ache in his muscles among his rapidly changing fist when he moved, but crying at this point would do very little for him in this situation.

Sooner or later, he wobbled up to his near-frozen feet, hissing in pain with each step. 

His aching muscles finally got used to movement again, which made it easier to maneuver his way around the jagged edges of rocks that stuck out of the ground. From past, painful experience — sandals and rocks don’t mix very well.

Steven carried himself on numb feet, to the beach house. Luckily for him, none of the gems were out, which made it easier for him to bolt up the stairs and into his loft.

He scrambled frantically around in his drawers for some kind of bandages to wrap his hand in. The closest thing he found to that was some tape, in which he immediately wrapped tightly around his painfully throbbing hand. 

It was a sorry excuse for a good bandage, but he was hoping that wrapping it very tightly would allow him a moment of comfort.

_ He was pretty far off from the truth.  _ It did him no good, whatsoever.

His mind swam with thoughts upon thoughts of what might happen if he didn’t do something — ANYTHING to stop this  _ soon.  _ His mind drove him in every which direction, with absolutely no plan as he cradled his exhausted head in hopes that an idea would pop into his mind.

He had to do something before  _ whatever this is took  _ over his whole body… 

And as much as he didn’t want to admit it, what was happening on his hand was corruption like he’d never seen it. His only choice would have been avoided if the pain didn’t begin to drive him crazy.

His only choice was something he put off for the longest.

His only choice was going somewhere he  _ dreaded. _

_ His only choice was to go to Homeworld and get help from the Diamonds. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are your thoughts 🧠 form them into a comment to make my day ☀️


	3. Corruption Starts At The Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corruption starts at the hands and ends when there’s nothing left to destroy.

For the most part, Steven dreaded the moment when he would see the Diamonds, but he needed to show compassion if he wanted help from them. Nonetheless, it had to be done. As he made his way over to the warp, shaken and hesitant, he was on his way to see the Diamonds

The task of activating the warp pad required him to use both hands, in which he let out a groan of pain when his affected hand pulsed under the tape it was wrapped in. As soon as he didn’t need it anymore, he jammed his fist back into his pockets, clutching tightly onto his wrist with his free hand.

Homeworld was still a mystery to him, despite his many visits there. It felt cold and ominous and anything but comforting. The staticky sound of outer space filled the halls as he made his way past many Homeworld gems, to the throne room.

He let out little ‘excuse me’s and ‘ _ sorry!’s  _ as he pushed past some gems that he had never met before. He didn’t know exactly where the Diamonds might’ve been at the moment. If any of the locals had known that it was Steven rushing past them, an instinctive chain of bowing and greetings would’ve occurred. 

He was more than happy to go unrecognized by everyone. Once he arrived at the main court, he continued forward to the throne room, which was unusually empty. 

“Hello?  _ Anyone in here? _ ” He called out breathlessly, only getting the sound of his echoing voice that bounced off the walls. 

He honestly had no idea where they could be. The places they could go were very limited due to their massiveness. 

The pain from Steven’s hidden hand began to cause him to sweat. He really didn’t know how much longer he could hide this, considering the fact that the color that his hands was turning, soon began to travel up his wrist. 

Steven defeatedly decided to head back into the busy courtroom area, where he visually scanned the room for white, blue, or yellow giants. 

With no luck, he eventually spotted the backside of Spinel who was animatedly chatting with a few of the Pebbles near the entrance. With a sigh, Steven’s shoulders slumped in relief, jogging over to her after a few moments of catching his breath.

“ _ Spinel!  _ Spinel, there you are. I’ve been looking all over this place for you,” his strained voice rang in the air, causing his friend to stop mid-conversation and whirl around towards him.

“Steven? Well, this is a surprise,” she smiled, walking over to her visibly struggling friend. 

“Spinel, this- this is great and all, but I really,  _ really  _ need to talk to you. Somewhere quiet,” his urgent voice got the point across to her that everything wasn’t fine. Her excitement quickly turned to concern as she looked over her shoulder, scanning the room for a quieter place.

“Got’cha, somewhere quiet. Follow me.” 

Steven lugged himself after her, growing weak from the searing pain in his hand. Spinel decided the throne room was best, considering no one was in here at the moment.

So when they got far enough inside to where they were out of ear-shot of any passerby, she turned her full attention to him.

“I think something’s wrong with me.  _ Very wrong.  _ And I-... I thought maybe you or the Diamonds could help me with it,” he stuttered, taking a quick look around the room before ultimately revealing his hand to her.

He grimaced at her reaction in which she cradled her head with round eyes. “Y _ ou…  _ what?!- Y-your hand… you’re corrupting?-“ 

Steven concededly nodded, looking off into the opposite direction.

“And it hurts pretty bad. I was thinking- that... maybe you guys could whip up one of those special antidotes that you give those corrupted gems?” 

Spinel, still slightly freaking out, looked at him with furrowed brows. “ _ But  _ those only work on  _ fully corrupted  _ folks…! You’re not fully corrupted, and we’re definitely not waiting for that to happen-“ 

The boy suddenly grew fearful. His mind began spiraling out of control with scenarios on how things could end for him. He didn’t think this was how things were going to happen, nor did he think corruption would even be part of it! That was, until Spinel spoke again.

“There  _ may  _ be something I can do-... it’s- I don’t know if it will work… but-” 

His eyes lit up with a twinge of hope, placing his uncorrupted hand on her shoulder. “Spinel- please.  _ Anything.  _ Anything you can do- I’ll try it.” desperately, he looked into her eyes.

She gave a small, confident smile. “We better hurry, then. Follow me!”

******

Spinel quickly led Steven through some kind of hallway, with a door that required a passcode. The walkway was abnormally large, but then it wasn’t so weird when he remembered that he was on Homeworld, the home of the Diamonds. 

They eventually arrived inside a room, filled with all kinds of things you’d see in a science lab. There was test tubes, organic chemistry equipment, and more things that Steven didn’t know the name of. 

Spinel headed over to a counter and took down some mental notes before beginning her search through a crystal cabinet. 

“Spinel, how  _ exactly  _ do you plan on helping me?” He says curiously. He looks around the place, noting that he’s never seen this room before. Was this supposed to be some top secret lab where they made antidotes to heal the corrupted?

“Well… since the Diamonds are gone, and there’s no one else here that really knows how to make this stuff, they taught me. Of course I wasn’t all that thrilled to be…  _ left behind…  _ but I’m sure they only did it to keep me safe.” she starts out enthusiastic, but says it a bit dryly and unconvinced at the end with a distant look off to the side. 

  
  
  


An awkward silence. 

  
  
  


“Anyway!...  _ Corruption starts at the hands, and the hands is where you’re having your, … dilemma.  _ Luckily, those three  _ giants _ taught me a recipe for the opposite of a disaster that can…  _ most definitely  _ help you out!” She explains, and her tone remains hopeful even though Steven has his doubts.  _ But it’s not like he had another choice… _

By this time, she had gathered all the ingredients to create the magical essence that Steven was all too familiar with. A mixture of Blue, Yellow, and White Diamond’s healing energy that was somehow manifested into liquid form.  _ Steven didn’t really want to know how, though.  _ Three obvious  _ absences  _ of Pink Diamond required them to use the last of her essence wisely. Steven briefly wondered what kind of magical properties his mother’s healing powers were capable of. 

With a tongue sticking out of her mouth to ensure extra focus, Spinel began mixing the magical waters together. She smiled proudly at her work while she shakes it gently to mix it.. The final product was an admittedly pretty mixture, consisting of a blue, yellow and white potion.

  
  


“Now, for this method … I believe it requires a little full body immersion to get the  _ magical healing effects _ and all that jazz,” 

Steven grunts from the pain, trying to get a good look at the antidote that Spinel made. The unconscious wincing didn’t allow him to see much. “Spinel, thanks  _ so  _ much.  _ For everything. _ I need to take this as soon as possible.” 

Spinel nods. “Understood,”

That’s why, when Steven tried bathing in it the moment he got back home, he was  _ devastated. _

His body was fully submerged into the essence, and yet — nothing was happening. He’s been sitting here for 15 minutes now, and the flow of tears from his eyes were diluting the water. 

_ If this didn’t work, then what would? _

Maybe this would all blow over soon and he was just being ridiculous. But the pain in his hand was now radiating through his whole body and his sobs started to sound a lot more like the grumbles of a lonely beast.

It all felt like a terrible nightmare that he was ready to wake up from in a gasp of air. But this was all very much real. His rejection from Connie, the pain in his hand and the new, frightening form he was taking on.

How would the gems react? How would they feel when they saw their precious boy, now a monster? Shaking with tears, nude in the bathtub while bathing in the Diamonds  _ all-healing essence? _

Maybe some things just couldn’t be healed. Heroes can become villains, right? Because if there was anything he could do to stop this figurative and psychical pain right now, he’d do absolutely  _ anything.  _

_ Anything to escape this nightmare with no way out. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like long comments and I will not lie! those other writers can’t deny, that when they see a....................................I can’t think of anything else. Let me know what you think of this!

**Author's Note:**

> lol so maybe leave a comment? K thx 😘


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